Tuesday Apple Rumors: No Retina iPad Mini Until October

The company may launch a cheaper iPad Mini first

Autumn: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has encountered problems with the production of Retina screens for its next-generation iPad Mini, AppleInsider notes. The report comes from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who says that adding the number of needed pixels to boost the iPad Mini’s 7.9-inch screen to Retina resolution has proven a technical challenge. Apple’s manufacturing partners continue to face yield issues with production of the new screens. The issues will force Apple to push back the introduction of the next-generation iPad Mini until at least October. The delay opens the possibility that Apple could launch a cheaper version of the iPad Mini featuring less memory and priced to compete with similarly-sized tablets running Google‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android OS prior to October.

Confidence: While some on Wall Street have begun to doubt Apple’s future, a Russian billionaire is taking a contrarian position, Bloomberg notes. Alisher Usmanov, reportedly Russia’s wealthiest man, has purchased $100 million worth of Apple shares. Usmanov called Apple a “very promising investment” and indicated that he considers the company poised for growth, at least over the next three years. The Russian also noted Apple’s recently announced plans to return $100 billion to shareholders in the form of share buybacks and a higher dividend. Usmanov gained investment fame for a 10-fold return on his stake in Facebook (NASDAQ:FB). His personal fortune is estimated at $19.8 billion, making him the 35th richest person in the world.

Fraud: The charity auction of a coffee-chat with Apple CEO Tim Cook was temporarily suspended after it was discovered that the top bid had been placed with a stolen credit card, ABC News notes. Proceeds from the CharityBuzz auction will be donated to the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. As of last week, bidding had reached $605,000 for the meeting at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, scheduled to last between 30 minutes and one hour. However, after that bid was found to be fraudulent, the bidding went back down to $600,000. The auction is back on and ends on May 14. A tour of Los Angeles’ SpaceX Center by founder Elon Musk is currently bidding at $7,500.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.